Subaqueous tunnel.



No. 725,029. PA'I'BNTED APR. I4; 190,9. I. A. BRADDOGK.

SUBAQUEOUS TUNNEL. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 7, 1902.

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PATBNTED APR. 14. 1903 I. A. BRADDOCK. SUBAQUEOUS TUNNEL.

APIfmoATIoN FILED MAR. 7, 1902.

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IWIIIIIIII WIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIII UNrTnn STATES T Trient SUBAQUEOUSTUNNEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 725,029, dated April14, 1903,

Application filed March 7, 1902. Serial No. 97,136. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that L ISAAC A. BRADDOCK, a citizen of the United States,residing at Haddoniield, in the county of Camden and State of NewJersey, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in the Construction ofSubaqueousTunnels forTra'ffic or other Purposes.

This invention relates to tunnels ofthe kind which are constructed insections at a place other than that at which they are finally locatedand which are floated to near the position of permanent location, vthensunk, connected, and secured.

The object of the invention is to so combine timber and lnetalin such aconstruction as to secure great strength and capacity and at the sametime avoid such great weight as would tend to strain the material.

Figure l is an end view, partly in section, showing the generalstructure of a four-pas sage tunnel, the air-vents therefor,and meansfor anchorage. Fig. 2 is a broken side elevation of same, showing onlypart of the anchorage devices. Fig. 3 is a broken detail cross-sectionof one of the timber walls of the tunnel-section with valve applied.Fig. 4 is a broken detail elevation of an anchoring device. Fig. 5 is atop plan of a part of one of the tunnel-sections, showing piles andanchor-tubes. Fig. 6 is a broken elevation; and Fig. '7 is across-section showing two piles and a tube interposed in the spacebetween them and a surrounding band to retain the piles and the tube intheir relative position, such being one of the many ways which may beemployed to hold the piles and tube together.

The tunnel-sections are constructed onland or in a basin or dry-dock insections for convenient dotation, and the sections are composed of woodand metal, preferably arranged as shown-that is to say, timbers D D arearranged in layers lattice fashion and are firmly bolted together toform paralleltrunks or passage-ways of rectangular form with strong andtight joints and preferably braced at the corners, as indicated at D',Fig. l. In Fig. l four Ways are shown; but this number may be departedfrom. The outer corners of the latticed timber structure are preferablybeveled, as at D2. The inner surfaces of the passage-ways arepreferablylined with heavy metallic sheathing, as F. This sheathing isfirmly secured to the inner faces of the latticed timbers inside thepassage ways. The sections of the tunnel are constructed in any suitableposition, and the ends of the passage-Ways are closed by bulkheads. Thesections are provided with upwardly-extending airtubes A, whichair-tubes have air-locks, (dotted lines H.) These air tubes and locksgovern the air-supply within the passageways. Valves B B may be used tocontrol air-escape from the passageways.V This location or site is to bemarked by substantial piles and the bed for the tunnel thoroughlydredged to the full depth required and about double width in case oftidal streams to al- 10W for drifting of material into it, and when allis ready at a selected time when tides are low the tunuel'section isiioated to a position over its final resting-place and is allowed tosinkby admitting water through suitable valves placed in the temporarybulkheads at each end of the sections (which may be one thousand feet ormore in length, as location may demand) and also by control of the airin said tunnel by means of vertical shafts rising from either end of thesections and reaching above the water-line and containing air-locks,these sections to be sunk joining each other and to the shore ends in amanner prescribed by the engineer in charge. These sections may consistof one or more tunnels built or joined together on the side, makingsingle or double or quadruple tracks in case of traffic-tunnels.

On the shore and on a suitable foundation or launching-ways the tunnelis to be constructed in the best manner of the bridge and ship buildersarts, well bolted together, preferably of latticed timbers of heavysection and adapted to the strains, tensions, and compressions to whichit may be subjected both in launching and doating to its location and insinking toits bed and pressure of water and mud surrounding it.

The timbers D D are intended to be shown as twelve by twelve inches,pine or other suitable wood. To these timbers are thoroughly bolted,say, one-inch plates F, of steel, either joined together by plainriveted joints or flanged at the edges and forming continuous metallining and tension and stress mem- IOC I bers of the tunnel-bridgeconstruction, making a continuous and enormously strong bridging,usuallynearly the Width of the deep- Water section of the stream or arm ofWater.

When the tunnel has been lowered to its bed, the piles C are preferablyjoined in pairs, secured together and to a pipe of suitable size andalso joined to the corresponding set on the opposite side of the tunnelby the coupling-,rods E. These pipes, connected with the piling C, arejoined by a flexible hose or other means to a powerful pump, and wateris forced through them, causing them to lower by their own or by addedweight or driving to a suitable depth, where by the agitation of theforcing stream of Water the anchors are expanded and the tunnel securedagainst oating out of its prepared bed when ready for traffic.

The fou r-track tunnel here shown has a capacity of four thousand eighthundred tons per one hundred and fifty feet in loose material.

The railroad-track may be constructed in the usual manner within thetunnel either before launching or after the placing in position,preferably before, as it helps make ballast in floating. After beingconnected with the shore ends or before, if desirable to work fromwithin the tunnel, the water can be pumped out and the tunnel extendedto the shore by the aid of the air-locks and a previously-constructedshield to operate through the removable bulkheads.

The great advantage of this style of tunnel is the expedition of itsconstruction, its great and continuous strength, its cheapness inusingthe enormous strength of timbers and their durability in such aposition, and the specific gravity of the combined timber and steelbeing about that of mud it has no inclination to sink into yieldingmaterial even when full of water, and the comparatively smoother anduniform sides of the inside of the tunnel presenting the least possiblesurface to oxidation, and also condition of water exclusion both fromthe filling of the seams of the timber with liquid melted pitch and thetight joints of the steel-riveted construction.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 5, the tubes I. extend between the piles C andare secured thereto in any suitable manner. These pipes have expandinganchors or dukes K, which may be below the piles. In Fig. l the pilesare shown as provided with expanding anchors or lukes. Piles with dukesare coin- (See, for example, Patent No. 517,880, dated April l0, 189i.)`I may adopt the construction shown in that patent or any other suitabledevice for the purpose.

l. A subaqueous tunnel-section, having its outer walls surrounding asubstantially rectangular passage-way, the walls composed of two layersof timbers arranged latticewise, and having an inner lining composed ofinetallic plates.

2. The combination with a subaqueous tunnel of substantially rectangularcross-section, of anchorage-piles driven at each side of said tunnel,the piles at the opposite sides connected by tic-rods passing above thetunnel.

3. The combination with a subaqueous tunnel,su bstantially rectangularin cross-section, of anchorage-piles arranged in pairs at one side ofsaid tunnel, and a vertical tube between said piles, connected to both,and provided with an anchor.

4. A tunnel-section composed of external walls of timbers arrangedlatticewise, an inner lining of metal, and an air-trunk connected to theinside of the passage-way by suitable valves, said air-trunk extendingupward, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

ISAAC A. BRADDOCK.

iVitnesses:

L. A. WILLITS, CHAs. S. BRADDocK, Jr.

